2018 IEM News

A team led by IEM Member Dr. Michael C. McAlpine, Benjamin Mayhugh Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has 3D-printed a prototype bionic eye. It is the first time that light receptors have been fully 3D-printed onto a hemispheric surface, which is a significant advance toward a fully-functional bionic eye that can cure blindness. "We have a long way to go to routinely print active electronics reliably, but our 3D-printed semiconductors are now starting to show that they could potentially rival the efficiency of semiconducting devices fabricated in microfabrication facilities," says Dr. McAlpine. "Plus, we can directly print a semiconducting device on a curved surface, which is challenging or impossible with conventional microfab." Dr. McAlpine says that the inspiration for pursuing this application came from his mother, who is blind in one eye. "Whenever I talk about my work, she says, 'When are you going to print me a bionic eye?'" The research has been published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Hubert Lim is Principal Investigator for Team Awarded $9.7 Million NIH BRAIN Initiative Grant for Development and Translation of an Intracranial Auditory Nerve Implant

A $9.7 million dollar grant was awarded to the University of Minnesota by the NIH for a multi-institutional project involving several IEM Members including Lead Principal Investigator Dr. Hubert Lim, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Otolaryngology, and an Institute for Translational Neuroscience Scholar. The 5-year project, entitled "Development and Translation of an Intracranial Auditory Nerve Implant," will build and evaluate the safety and design needs of a new type of intracranial auditory prosthesis that targets the auditory nerve between the cochlea and the brainstem in order to substantially improve hearing performance over the current standard of care: the cochlear implant. "The cochlear implant is considered one of the most successful neural prosthesis to date," says Dr. Lim. "However, the field has not achieved substantial improvements in hearing performance for the past ~25 years. The success of our proposed auditory nerve implant could lead to a new generation of brain technologies and greatly advance the hearing prosthesis field as well as opening up novel opportunities for treating other health disorders with our new implantable technology."

The research team includes several faculty from the University of Minnesota including Co-PI Andrew Oxenham, Professor of Psychology and Otolaryngology; Co-I Meredith Adams, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, Co-I Geoff Ghose, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and IEM Members Co-I Stephen Haines, Professor of Neurosurgery, Co-I Luke Johnson, Assistant Professor of Neurology, and Co-I Sebahattin Cureoglu, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology.

IEM Member Dr. David K. Wood, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, is a Co-Principal Investigator of a collaborative project with colleagues at Emory and Georgia Tech to study new technologies for the treatment of sickle cell disease that has been awarded with a 4-year, $3 Million NIH grant. Dr. Wood's team will lead the development of microfluidic technologies and analysis tools that will help elucidate the clinical relevance of blood viscosity, which is only vaguely understood in sickle cell disease. These studies will more precisely define what "viscosity" means in different parts of the circulation within a sickle cell disease patient. Working with Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Wilbur Lam, an Associate Professor at Georgia Tech and Emory Universities, and Co-Investigator Dr. Melissa Kemp, an Associate Professor at Georgia Tech, Dr. Wood's team will also study how viscosity changes in the context of blood transfusions and inform more patient-specific transfusion guidelines. Dr. Wood says that "we're using microtechnology, quantitative imaging, and computational modeling to put the clinical picture of sickle cell disease on a rigorous quantitative footing and to provide clinicians with new tools to improve patient care."

IEM Member Dr. Timothy M. Kowalewski, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with Dr. Andrew W. Grande, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, is the Principal Investigator of a project awarded $1.977 Million from the NSF for research entitled "EFRI C3 SoRo: Strong Soft Robots-Multiscale Burrowing and Inverse Design." The project seeks to accomplish two tasks: to create "a millimeter-scale patient-specific soft robot catheter for neurovascular and cardiovascular applications, where the robots can gently move through blood vessels without requiring risky surgery, blocking blood flow, or injuring the patient," and to create "a meter-scale robot that intelligently burrows underground, with force levels much higher than previously attained by soft robots." To achieve these results, the team will need to address the challenges of making a robot that is flexible enough to travel through a patient's vasculature, but still apply enough force for an effective intervention. "This is a strong first step in realizing our vision of a neuro-surgical robotics center at UMN." says Dr. Kowalewski.

Research led by IEM Members Dr. David J. Odde, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. David K. Wood, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, shows that sickle cell anemia could be effectively treated with lower dosages of medication than are currently prescribed, due to the inefficiency of the disease's molecular development. "It would be analogous to saying: if I stacked up 100 Legos ... 96 of them would fall off and only four would stay on," says Dr. Wood. "I would have to stack up another 100 to get another four to stay. So [the molecular process is] only about 4 percent efficient." As reported by the Minnesota Daily, the findings were made possible by cameras and microscopes that allowed for the highest resolution ever used in studying the pace and efficiency of the disease on the molecular level. Dr. Wood notes that, while newer alternatives to existing medications are now in development to treat the disease, including stem cell transplants and gene therapy, those treatments will probably not be available to the millions of people in the developing world who suffer from the disease. "I would argue that ... a medica”

A $9.7 million dollar grant was awarded to the University of Minnesota by the NIH for a multi-institutional project involving several IEM Members including Lead Principal Investigator Dr. Hubert Lim, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Otolaryngology, and an Institute for Translational Neuroscience Scholar. The 5-year project, entitled "Development and Translation of an Intracranial Auditory Nerve Implant," will build and evaluate the safety and design needs of a new type of intracranial auditory prosthesis that targets the auditory nerve between the cochlea and the brainstem in order to substantially improve hearing performance over the current standard of care: the cochlear implant. "The cochlear implant is considered one of the most successful neural prosthesis to date," says Dr. Lim. "However, the field has not achieved substantial improvements in hearing performance for the past ~25 years. The success of our proposed auditory nerve implant could lead to a new generation of brain technologies and greatly advance the hearing prosthesis field as well as opening up novel opportunities for treating other health disorders with our new implantable technology."

The research team includes several faculty from the University of Minnesota including Co-PI Andrew Oxenham, Professor of Psychology and Otolaryngology; Co-I Meredith Adams, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, Co-I Geoff Ghose, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and IEM Members Co-I Stephen Haines, Professor of Neurosurgery, Co-I Luke Johnson, Assistant Professor of Neurology, and Co-I Sebahattin Cureoglu, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology.